Wales and England had seven birdies between them in the last four holes to leap into a share of the lead with Sweden at the halfway stage of golf's World Cup in Portugal.

For Welsh pair Bradley Dredge and Stephen Dodd four came in a row to raise their hopes of a repeat of the victory by Ian Woosnam and David Llewellyn in Hawaii 18 years ago.

Dredge used to be a member of the Bryn Meadows club, where a photograph of Woosnam and Llewellyn was given pride of place in the clubhouse after their 1987 triumph.

'I saw a lot of it as you can imagine and it's inspirational,' said the 32-year-old, who launched the late Welsh burst by pitching to five feet on the 15th and then hitting a three-iron to three feet at the next.

They were also on in two at the 17th and two-putted before Dodd struck his approach to the 463-yard last to 15 feet and his partner got the line and the pace spot on.

'We were rewarded for our patience,' said Dredge.

Dodd added: 'We couldn't be aggressive on the front nine because we were coming out of the rough all the time.'

For England's Luke Donald and David Howell the birdies at the 16th, 17th and 18th turned a poor day into an acceptable one and boosted their bid to retain the trophy Donald won with Paul Casey last year.

Swedes Henrik Stenson and Niclas Fasth had set the target of 16 under par with a 67, but Wales matched that score and the English duo, who began the week with a fourball better-ball of 59, returned a 69.

Those three rounds were made to look positively pedestrian, however, in comparison to what Angel Cabrera and Ricardo Gonzalez produced earlier.

The two Argentinians had a staggering 61 - six strokes better than anyone else - and moved from joint last place to fourth, only one behind.